Long-awaited Lance Armstrong biopic The Program has finally got its thrilling first trailer, which sees the disgraced seven-time Tour de France champion lie through his teeth about his use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

Based on book Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong by Irish journalist David Walsh, the biopic will trace the infamous US rider's fall from global icon to denounced cheat.

Chris O'Dowd looks brilliant in the role of Walsh, who dedicated 13 years of his life to exposing Armstrong's secret dependence on steroids, while Ben Foster is in the lead. Lee Pace stars as Armstrong's former agent Bill Stapleton.

"Inside each and every one of us is something more potent and more powerful than any drug. It's called, the will to survive," Armstrong says in voiceover at the start of the clip, before disturbing scenes of blood and syringes show him undergoing systematic doping.

But Walsh is on Armstrong's tail and not letting go: "He's a man transformed. He's recovered from cancer and turned into bloody superhero. He wins and wins and he celebrates, he meets the president, he gets more sponsors, more money, more fame. The man is a cheat!"

The 90-second teaser ends with Armstrong rehearsing his press conference lie in a bathroom mirror and proving himself a terrifyingly convincing actor. "I'm the most tested athlete on the face of the planet but I have never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs," he says, as Walsh only grows more determined to out him as a criminal.

Oscar-winning director Stephen Frears is behind the camera along with The Theory of Everything producers Working Title. The Program is yet to receive a UK release date but is expected later this year.

The most controversial sports autobiographies

The most controversial sports autobiographies

1/10
Tyler Hamilton – The Secret Race

Hamilton, one of Lance Armstrong’s key lieutenants during his Tour de France victories, made headlines around the world when ‘The Secret Race’ finally exposed the doping culture that defined Armstrong’s success and cycling in general. The book helped to turn public perception against his former team leader for good, and contained the most graphic and detailed depictions of sustained drug-taking in sport ever published.
Key Quotes: ‘It took the drug-testing authorities several years and millions of dollars to develop a test to detect EPO in urine and blood. It took Ferrari about five minutes to figure out how to evade it.’
‘I didn't say anything. Lance was on a roll now. ‘I'm going to make your life a living ... ******* ... hell.’’

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2/10
Len Shackleton – Clown Prince of Soccer

The original controversial football autobiography was penned by Sunderland legend Len Shackleton in 1956. The book is littered with criticism targeted at the FA and former clubs but became infamous for a chapter titled ‘The average director’s knowledge of football’. The page beneath was left blank.
Key Quote: 'Chapter 9 – The average director’s knowledge of football…'

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3/10
Zlatan Ibrahimovic – I am Zlatan

The Swedish superstar has never struggled for self-confidence, and Zlatan channelled his absolute self-assurance to produce one of the most brilliant, bonkers footballer’s autobiographies of all time. ‘I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic’ intersperses sections sticking the boot into Pep Guardiola with gleeful anecdotes of his utterly bizarre extra-curricular exploits.
Key Quotes: ‘Whenever life’s at a standstill I need some action. I always drive like a maniac. I’ve done 325 kilometres an hour in my Porsche Turbo and left the cops eating my dust.’
‘One time I got dressed in all black, Rambo-style, and took a massive pair of bolt-cutters and nicked a military bike.’

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4/10
Herschelle Gibbs – To the Point

The South African batsman’s career was littered with incidents of drug-taking, womanising and racism, so his book was always going to arouse controversy. ‘To the Point’ vividly depicted his drink and drug abuse and orgies involving Gibbs and his international team-mates, as well as some customary mud-slinging over cliques of senior players (sound familiar, KP?).
Key Quote: (subtly depicting a night on a tour of Australia in 1997/98) ‘It was one fat party. From mid-evening to the next afternoon. I enjoyed the company of … let’s say, more than one woman.’

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5/10
Sean Long – Longy: Booze, Brawls, Sex and Scandal

Long, a mainstay of the all-conquering St Helens team of the late 90s and early 2000s, had his career tainted by a three-month ban for betting on his team to lose to Bradford Bulls in 2004. His book lived up to its straightforward title: beyond lifting the lid on a betting culture that pervaded rugby league, the book is awash with anecdotes of extraordinary drinking and seedy sexual encounters.
Key Quote: ‘Me and Glees [Martin Gleeson] got our heads together and decided to bet on Bradford to win.’

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6/10
Andre Agassi – Open

Agassi’s revealing memoir lifted the lid on his uncompromising upbringing and a career spent riddled with insecurities. Perhaps most notoriously, ‘Open’ included the revelation that Agassi used crystal meth throughout 1997 when his career was in a lull, leading to the star lying to avoid a drugs ban.
Key Quotes: ‘I play tennis for a living even though I hate tennis, hate it with a dark and secret passion and always have.’
‘As if they're coming out of someone else's mouth, I hear these words: You know what? **** it. Yeah. Let's get high.’

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7/10
Paolo Di Canio – Paolo Di Canio: The Autobiography

Di Canio has always been, to put it mildly, a tad eccentric. Fortunately, he refused to hold back in his book, written in 2000, which contains everything from barmy tales of stabbing his brother in the back (literally, with a fork) to an impassioned defence of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, which later caused him trouble as manager of Swindon and Sunderland.
Key Quote: ‘I am fascinated by Mussolini. I think he was a deeply misunderstood individual. He deceived people. His actions were often vile. But all this was motivated by a higher purpose.’

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8/10
Paul McGrath – Back from the Brink

McGrath’s book, which unflinchingly confronts his difficult childhood, alcoholism and multiple suicide attempts, is one of the most troubling sporting autobiographies ever written. The tales of McGrath’s epic binges – he once woke up in a caravan 15 miles from the team hotel, and would frequently play when drunk – are made all the more shocking by his total lack of glorification.
Key Quote: ‘I vividly remember the Stanley knife and the blood pouring on to the floor. Come to think of it, I remember the au pair's screams too.’

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9/10
Paul Kimmage – Rough Ride

A journeyman pro cyclist, Kimmage won the William Hill Sports Book award in 1990 for going against the sport’s ‘omerta’ and revealing for the first time the extent of drug-taking in the peloton. The book ostracized the Irishman from former friends and teammates but forced cycling to finally confront itself –Kimmage would later become one of Lance Armstrong’s fiercest critics.
Key Quote: 'It was doping, no mistake about it, but it was only pigeon **** compared to what some of the others were doing. It bothered me, but this was my last Tour and I didn’t want to go out of it after two days.’

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10/10
Roy Keane – Keane: The Autobiography

Keane has previous on the controversial autobiography front, after his first book landed him in front of an FA tribunal for bringing the sport into disrepute. Mick McCarthy was one of many targeted in Keane’s relentlessly angry tome, but ultimately it was his expletive-ridden admission of deliberate retribution on Alf Inge Haalaand that landed the Irishman in hot water.
Key Quote: (On Alf Inge Haaland) ‘I'd waited long enough. I ******* hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you ****. And don't ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.’